Darvys

I wonder if Szeth will play a role in unmasking Malata, she seems just bloodthirsty enough to react to Nightblood, funny also how her behavior, which would fit a traitorous spren, makes everyone else wary of her and diminishes her ability to harm their cause, even though restricting her to the portals ended up backfiring. Even funnier will be Szeth's stoic response to their outrage "I serve Dalinar Kholin, a man who knows truth ... Deal with it." As for Ash, it was long speculated that she would be the main Dustbringer, Dalinar's momentary Ta'veren pull gives it more credit, but i've learned from Eshonai not to take things for granted, after all it was Taln who felt the need to reach Dalinar, not her.

What worries me most about Moash is that the one thing that would cement him on Odium's side would be the murder of a fellow bridgeman, and i don't think i can take that. So if he could just trip into a pyre offscreen and the first Venli pov is the parshmen mourning around his ashes, i wouldn't blame you Brandon.

I think it'll depend on how Odium plays his conquest, so far he seems to want to keep both sides on the edge of morality until he's ready to sweep humanity from Roshar. Nale hasn't made it clear how far he'll be willing to follw Odium, the fact he is a full Skybreaker might be the ray of hope we can cling to, the fifth ideal makes it so that only his own judgement matters, he might hide behind the listener laws for now, but the moment they swerve from what he sees as just he'll probably take action against their god. I hope so anyway, i kind of like the guy.

Weren't there true depictions of the Heralds in Urithiru in the pit where Re-Shefir was lurking ? I don't think Ash knows the tower was reclaimed, so it would be natural to assume that the sketches were shared by the one being on Roshar who's both old enough to know them and has the skill to make them.

I believe Szeth had already bonded a spren as a child, the voice he mentioned hearing long ago similar to Nightblood's. Like Shallan the bond would have been there but dormant until he again spoke the oaths. Why the spren isn't visible despite Szeth feeling it's approval after the 3rd oath, i can't quite figure. Now that we know dual wielding is a thing, and knowing what Szeth can do already ... Odium should just go take a break for a few decades and wait for the current cast to die off really.

I believe Cultivation IS trying to use the diagram to backstab Odium, but i doubt he'd be blind to that, she got him once, i find it hard to believe she'll manage to get him again. When both sides have a way however imperfect to see the future it becomes really difficult to make plans long term. While genius T could be using dumb T, there's nothing to stop Odium from cutting a string or two along the way and replacing them with his own. Curious to see how it'll play out, but i don't think it'll be to the benefit of mankind.

I might be wrong, but i think it had to do with who followed him and who sought to oppose him. You have Taravangian whom Szeth probably considers evil trying to murder a man served by a Windrunner because he would be an impediment to his plans, add to that the way Dalinar acted in his few interactions with Szeth and it's not too shocking. Though i myself was surprised at first.

@SLNC Thanks ! I had assumed she was simply refering to herself there, but yeah it would make sense if it was also obliquely adding a line to her lousy "Kaladin is a no go" argument. All of this is too much for me to believe in a "they lived happily ever after" for the two of them, I do believe Kaladin is out of the romantic picture, and honestly that's good for him, but the Adolin-Shallan duo is heading straight for a wall. I don't know what i want for Kaladin going forward, we all want him to be happy and find balance, but Syl's way isn't necessarily the only one, i wouldn't mind if he turned into a solitary symbol one step below a deity, so long as he is somehow fulfilled by the role and not simply suffering through it.

Can you point me to where Shallan comments on her discussion with Kaladin ? i have trouble finding it.

And it was so odd coming from him, the guy always annoyed by people telling him to let go of his guilt suddenly wants to eraze his feelings to be able to move on ? Felt forced, i had trouble believing what i was reading.

Hmm, for the illumination surge, after his discovery of the gems in the library wasn't the "wave" that rippled out of his hands to open all the drawers a manifestation of the surge ? He was also quick to grasp their purpose "music of language".

Yeah, this is why Szeth's fellow squires and the two acolytes back in Edgedancer felt like second class Knights Radiant, at least with Bridge 4 they shared part of the journey so they got to appreciate and internalize the Ideals, they're not being spoon fed and still struggling to keep up.

I'm not worried about Szeth, I have a suspicion that Nale followed the same path when he bonded a highspren, vowing to follow Ishar as his third oath, since he assumed he was the least affected by their time in damnation. Whereas Ishar could have abused that position to steer Nale toward Odium, i think Dalinar will be able to keep Szeth grounded and help him take the step he himself took in this book, in accepting the burden of his past crimes.

@Willow It could be that the rest of the family, seeing how Dalinar neglected one of his sons tried to compensate by doting on Renarin, which a young Adolin, not really understanding the reason behind it, could have been envious of. I think he'll focus on Moash next, i reread his scenes to fuel my hatred and noticed that he keeps repeating that what he did wasn't his fault, they made him do it, he had to let go ... Same things Odium kept repeating to Dalinar when he wanted him to succumb, so i figure he's been shaping Moash as well in part of the book. Kaladin is beyond him, he'll go for the moron instead.

The interpretation is wrong, that bit was clearly showcasing Veil taking over, had nothind to do with Kaladin's effect on people.

A lot of good things in this book, but the only thing i feel like commenting on right now is how much Moash disgusts me, i had some hope for him with his first povs but no, he had to decide to remain a fool and a tool because the world is unfair, when i reread the scene in which he saluted Kaladin, i wished for nothing more than to rip his arms out.

I feel i need to pause here, just read Rock's first pov, that was beautiful.

Hmm, i liked that theory then remembered Jasnah's talk with Shallan about Gavilar's interactions with the parshendi and how he had noticed one of their warriors make the gesture indicative of summoning a blade.

@Fifth of Daybreak One of two would not be bonded, but in that same scene both blades were being used, point still stands.

How does that fit with lending your blade to others for practice ? Elhokar spends his days focusing on maintaining his blades formed ? That would explain much in a way. I always assumed the challenge was in conveying your will to the blade, and once that was accomplished you would only need to send a command to dispel it or summon it back when you needed to.

@WhiteLeeopard That might have fit if every other radiant we have wasn't (or on his way to be) a perfect embodiment of his order's ideals, though i totaly expect some of them at one point or another to challenge those ideals and go beyond, but that's not the point. Really you could say that each character fits a mold the story needs him to, but that doesn't change that my impression right now is that trading Eshonai for Venli is a deal i wouldn't sign up for, there's no doubt in my mind that Brandon would make it work but i just can't summon any excitement for it right now. @Nymeros For the blade, we don't know how mind commands work, particularly how they are dispelled, is losing consciousness enough ? maybe, maybe not. Or maybe we do know and i forgot.

I meant the death of a character readers are invested in, we only got a set of interludes but those were enough for us to infer all the possible and interesting ways her arc could go. We could see Sadeas had reached the end of the road, Eshonai barely took a step. To throw all that away for no real reason would be a shame. Yeah sure that's what death can be like, but if characters just start dropping left and right because that's life, i as a reader will stop connecting with them, there's only so much fictional loss my little heart can take.

I can't belive so many people are considering her "death" final, such a waste just to give us an out of the blue redemption arc for the sister ? nah, for this alone i won't believe it yet, let alone the mysterious spren and the convinient reason given for her blade to be around. If there were many fake outs in the previous book, i'd expect the first real death to have meaning and impact, not leave me more disappointed than anything.

You argue over how long days and years are and how old they would be on earth but just assume that rosharans develop the same way and at the same rate we do, this argument is a dead end, one of those cases where the author can do whatever he wants and only need to say that's how it is (not that this is even an issue).

Syl stating the winds knew him and led her to him or something like that, there was also that sparring match in his youth but i went back to check and i guess it only showcases his gift with the spear (which might or might not be related). That's all i can think of right now, i can't tell for sure if there was more.